The natural mineral zeolites are a group of hydrous alkali and/or alkaline earth aluminosilicates which have an open three-dimensional crystalline framework. While a large number of individual mineral zeolites are known and have been described in the literature, eleven minerals make up the major group of mineral zeolites: analcime, chabazite, clinoptilolite, erionite, ferrierite, heulandite, laumontite, mordenite, natrolite, phillipsite and wairakite. The chemical and physical properties of these major mineral zeolites, as well as the properties of many of the minor mineral zeolites, are described extensively in LeFond (ed.), Industrial Minerals and Rocks (4th edn., 1975), pp. 1235-1274; Breck, Zeolite Molecular Sieves (1974), especially Chapter 3; and, Mumpton (ed.), Mineralogy and Geology of Natural Zeolites, Vol. 4 (Mineralogical Society of America: November 1977). These publications also describe the geologic occurrence of the natural mineral zeolites and some industrial and agricultural uses which have been proposed or in which the natural mineral zeolites are now being used commercially.
It is important to note that the natural mineral zeolites are an entirely different class of materials from the "synthetic zeolites" which have been widely described in many recent articles and patents. Because there is no universally recognized system for naming the synthetic zeolites, and because some of the synthetic materials exhibit x-ray diffraction patterns which suggest possible similarities in structure with the natural mineral zeolites, some reports in the literature and patents have described certain synthetic zeolites as "synthetic" versions of the natural mineral zeolites. Thus, for instance, certain synthetic zeolites have been described as "synthetic analcime" or "synthetic mordenite" and so forth. As noted in the aforementioned Breck reference, however, this approach is technically unsound and has merely led to confusion between the two otherwise distinct classes of materials: the natural mineral zeolites and synthetic zeolites. While it has been recognized that there are structural similarities between the two groups, it is clear that the natural mineral zeolites constitute a class of materials significantly separate and distinct in structure and properties from the synthetic zeolites.
Glasses are vitreous materials composed largely of silica. Because silica is a highly refractory material, however, substantial quantities of soda ash, lime or other fluxing materials are added to the silica to permit the glass forming composition to be melted at reasonable temperatures. Small quantities of other materials, usually elemental materials or oxides, are commonly added to glass melts to provide particular properties such as color or chemical resistance to the finished glass. Heretofore, however, there has not been any report of significant usage of zeolites in glass matricies and particularly as the principal component of a glass matrix. One experiment has been reported in which a clinoptilolite and glass mixture was fired at 800.degree. C. (well below the melting point of either) to produce what was described as a porous low density glass composition; see Mumpton, supra, p. 197, referring to Tamura Japanese published application No. 74/098,817 (1974).